9/08/2013

Sunday Dinner

It's a Sunday birthday dinner around here today. My son will be turning fifteen on Wednesday (oh my, where did the time go??), so it is his turn to choose the menu. It was a tough choice between fried chicken and lamb, but lamb won. And where there is roasted lamb, there are beans, bread and this salad. And after almost three years of sharing our Sunday dinner menus, it's about time I got around to sharing this recipe.

If you are a long time Sunday dinner follower, you might recall the numerous times I have listed Simple Green Salad on the menu. Well, this is it--big leaves of buttery Bibb lettuce dressed with a simple vinaigrette made from this building block-- fresh herbs and shallots, and just a squeeze of lemon juice. It's a great salad to serve with a rich meal like lamb, duck, or Toulouse sausage. I've written the recipe per the original, but I also serve it family style tossed in a large bowl.

Carefully remove the core from each head of lettuce and separate the leaves, but keep each head of lettuce together (leaves will be reassembled); discard any tough outer leaves. Wash and spin-dry the leaves.

Place the leaves from one head of lettuce in a large bowl. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper, one-fourth of the shallots, 1 tablespoon each of the chives, parsley, and chervil if using. Then toss gently with 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette and 1 teaspoon of the lemon juice. Arrange the outer leaves as a base on the plate and rebuild each head of lettuce, ending with the smallest, most tender leaves. Repeat with the remaining heads of lettuce. Enjoy!